Saturday, May 28, 2011

Learn About Portrait Photography

By Sam Riley


A portraiture, simply known as a portrait, is a photo that shows a person or small group's facial expression while they are in a still position. The person or group's personalities, moods and likeness emerge through. Aside from the face, portrait photography can also show the whole body and the background of the subject. The person or group is usually looking straight at the camera in a portrait picture.

Portrait photography, unlike other styles uses unskilled models. Graduations, special events and weddings are types of occasions where portrait photography is used, and later displayed in private homes. Many are done on studio with several settings to choose from.

A Bit of History

People have been using portrait photography ever since the invention of the camera. Having your portrait painted was expensive and not as available. People would sit against a background and were lit with natural light from a window. With technology evolving photographers have the ability to take pictures with less exposure time allowing them more freedom to move around and create new styles of portrait photography.

Using Light In Portrait Photography

A professional photographer has complete control over the lighting when taking portrait photos in a studio. They can change the intensity and the direction. Fill lights, background lights, kicker lights and the main lights are just some of the different lighting terms.

The most important source of light is obviously called the main light. The main light is generally positioned above or below the subject and at a 45-degree angle.The main light can create shadows so the fill light helps to eliminate them. The kicker light is the light that brightens up the hair of a subject. This will help to add depth and to show the separation from the subject & the background. A Background light brightens the background and can add effects to the backdrops.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment